First rule of flight club … Anthony Albanese won’t talk about Qatar and a certain ‘someone’

Anthony Albanese refuses to say if he held talks with Alan Joyce over the blocking of more Qatar Airways flights, as he suggested the airline had the potential to abuse its market power.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he held discussions with Qantas boss Alan Joyce over the blocking of more flights to Australia from Qatar Airways, as he suggested for the first time the airline had the potential to abuse its market power.

After weeks of mounting political pressure and shifting explanations from Labor over the Qatar decision, Peter Dutton put the Prime Minister on the spot by asking him directly whether he had spoken with Mr Joyce over what the Coalition has dubbed a “sweetheart deal” aimed at protecting the national carrier.

“I had one extensive conversation with someone about Qatar. It was not someone with Qantas,” Mr Albanese said in question time. “I received no lobbying from Qantas about this issue. I can’t be clearer.”

Mr Albanese did not identify the person he had spoken to about the Qatar Airways decision. But he did reveal the former government had been forced to insert a special “safeguarding mechanism” into a previous 2018 deal with Qatar Airways because of concerns the airline could misuse its market power.

The parliamentary stoush came as Qantas on Monday refused to say when top executives – including Mr Joyce and his incoming successor, Vanessa Hudson – knew of a competition watchdog investigation and intended lawsuit into allegations the airline was knowingly selling tickets on cancelled ghost flights.

The national carrier also refused to say if Mr Joyce was aware of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation when he sold 2.5 million shares in early June for $17m.

At the time, the surprise sale was attributed to Mr Joyce’s purchase of a second apartment at The Rocks for $9m.

In the past few years, the ACCC has investigated Qantas over claims by Rex Airlines of predatory behaviour, the national carrier’s handling of travel credits and the planned takeover of Alliance Aviation.

The issue of Qantas’ cancelled flights was also something that was examined in the quarterly airline monitoring reports published by the ACCC until June when the government refused to renew funding.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce. Picture NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

Mr Albanese said the “safeguards article” had been inserted by then transport minister Michael McCormack to “make sure that there wasn’t any abuse of market power put in there by any entity. Because there is only one, of course, airline based in Qatar that also, of course, operates the airport at Doha as well”.

The Australian revealed last week Mr McCormack as transport minister had consulted Mr Albanese “a few times about aviation matters” because of his “deep knowledge” of the sector.

The suggestion from Mr Albanese that the Qatar Airways application was rejected because of concerns the airline might misuse its market power follows a series of other reasons presented by the government.

These include the protection of local jobs, the viability of the national carrier, human rights concerns, fewer carbon emissions and the “national interest”. The Labor states of Queensland and South Australia have also said they would have preferred the Qatar bid to have been accepted, with business leaders arguing it would have driven down airfares.

The claim from Mr Albanese that the previous government had struck a “special agreement” with Qatar Airways in 2018 comes after weeks of pressure, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton describing the government’s decision to reject the Qatar Airways bid as part of a secret “sweetheart deal” with Qantas.

Rejecting the accusation, the Prime Minister said Mr McCormack decided in February 2018 to “put on hold an application by Qatar Airways that only came into practice in January 2022”.

“That was an interesting deal … because it wasn’t just over flights,” Mr Albanese said. “What they (the former government) did on that deal was put in a safeguarding mechanism into the deal. A special deal which other countries have not had to do to safeguard Australia’s national interest.

“This updated deal was a special arrangement between Australia and Qatar because the Australian government at the time was clearly concerned about an abuse of market power. I assume that’s why it was put into the agreement – something that I don’t think has been out there. I don’t think there was a media release at the time.

“But that was done. That was done because of the special circumstances that are there.”

Mr McCormack confirmed to The Australian a safeguard mechanism was put in place because “you can’t have an airline coming in from overseas and just undercutting to the point where Australian jobs are at risk and Australian airlines are placed at a disadvantage”.

“We can’t have an airline with very deep pockets undercut, undercut, undercut and … (then) people go to them as opposed to an airline that may be majority Australian-owned and unable to compete with this unfair undercutting of prices.”

Mr Albanese also boasted in parliament that as a result of measures he took as transport minister, Australia had “the most competitive aviation market in the world, bar none”.

“My government supports competition,” he said, adding “global aviation is not a free-for-all”.

Several key business leaders, economists and competition experts have argued that accepting the Qatar Airways application would have driven down airfares. Rex deputy chair John Sharp argued on Monday the government should revisit the decision.

“I think it’s appropriate if they were to reverse the decision on Qatar flights because Qatar has been flying into Australia for a long time,” he told ABC radio. “They are an excellent airline … and during Covid they flew more Australians home than Qantas did.”